California State Teachers' Retirement System, Sacramento, abruptly canceled its search for a CIO today because the only applicant was incumbent Thomas Flanigan. With several board members demanding competition for the post, the board of the $62.5 billion fund now will hire an executive search firm to provide candidates.
One reason for the desire for competition stems from concerns over fund performance. Mr. Flanigan directs a $7 billion TAA portfolio that has been in cash and fixed income for about a year. The fixed-income market generally has underperformed the equity market for the last 12 months, but no performance numbers were available on the TAA portfolio.